*** Guest post from Leah Levane ***
So today I happened to be passing Parliament Square where there was clearly something going on. Peaceful – and very quiet – protestors were standing by the Nelson Mandela statue. I understand that they had gathered around midday, or perhaps 1pm and by the time I got there around 1.45, some had already been arrested. Their “crime” was holding placards that said “Stop the genocide: I support Palestine Action”. This organisation was proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 (notably introduced by a supposedly Labour government). When concerns were first raised about (as I recall) the inclusion of “serious damage to property” as a possible type of terrorist act, the then Home Secretary (a certain Jack Straw) reassured the House of Commons that it would not be used to deter civil disobedience…
There was pressure on the Tory government to proscribe “Just Stop Oil” under the same legislation and they baulked at doing that, considering it a step too far.
Click here for video from Middle East Eye
I watched and protested as each of the silent protestors who were left were arrested. There were dozens and dozens of police officers. I found myself shouting “Let them Go!” very loudly, and cries of “Free, free Palestine”, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, “From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever”, “We are not intimidated, we’ll keep on til we are liberated” and “Keir Starmer, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide”.
The police decided to move us back so that they had more space to escort – and in most cases carry – the silent protestors. When we asked why, they said if we did not move they would arrest us; On what grounds? “Disturbing the peace”. I said that there was total silence from the protestors, the noise we were making was because they were arresting people who were standing up against genocide.
Several of us made the point that this was a dreadful misuse of scarce police sources, that serious crimes were being committed and criminals not being pursued. One or two said, “we are just doing our job”…oh, following politically based orders from higher up… sound at all familiar?
I found myself very angry. Over 40 have been arrested, I have heard 42 and 46. I have also heard that they may be kept longer than the 29 arrested last week, probably overnight and possibly for a week…
I feel angry, and was quite emotional when I was interviewed by someone from an agency… as well as someone from Middle East Eye. But the people are with us – an open top doubledecker that had clearly been hired for a hen party, was full of women in pink tops and pink stetsons all shouting “free free Palestine!” as they passed us. Oh and, of course Nelson Mandela was a terrorist until one day he wasn’t…
Click here to watch channel 4 news video
Kay Green 